Evil Bones

By: Kathy Reichs

Narrated by: Linda Emond

#1 New York Times bestselling author Kathy Reichs returns with a twisty, magnetic “thriller of the highest order” (Bookreporter) featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan, who finds herself enmeshed in a series of grisly animal killings that escalate into something far more sinister.

Small creatures—a rat, a rabbit, a squirrel—have been turning up throughout Charlotte, North Carolina, mutilated and displayed in a bizarre manner. But one day, as Tempe is relaxing at home alongside her aimless, moody great-niece Ruthie, she’s diverted by a disturbing call. The perp is upping the ante. This find could be human.

Tempe visits the scene and discovers that the victim is a dog. Someone’s pet. As one who has always found animal cruelty abhorrent, Tempe agrees to help apprehend the person responsible, and she acquires an equally outraged ally in semi-retired homicide detective Erskine “Skinny” Slidell. Needing a better understanding of possible motives, Tempe seeks input from a forensic psychologist. The doctor has no definitive answer but offers several possibilities, warning that the escalating pattern of aggression suggests even more macabre discoveries—and a shift in the perp’s focus to humans.

And then it happens. A woman is found disfigured and posed in a manner that mimics the animal killings. Subsequently, people Tempe cares about begin to go missing until it becomes clear she is being taunted, the target in a sick game that has her and Slidell racing against a ticking clock. In this “grisly mystery that keeps us guessing” (Booklist), Tempe faces a terrifying question: “What is pure evil?”

Critic reviews

"Narrator Linda Emond's deliberate pacing and the building tension of her delivery create a compelling listen. The latest installment of the Temperance Brennan series finds the forensic anthropologist in Charlotte, North Carolina, with her volatile niece, Ruthie, when a string of small-animal mutilations escalates to the murder of a woman. Tempe partners with semiretired homicide detective Erskine “Skinny” Slidell to find out who’s behind the violence. As they get closer to the truth, people in Tempe’s life begin to go missing, and she and Skinny must confront questions about the nature of evil. Emond does an excellent job of balancing the scientific aspects of Temperance Brennan’s work and the horror of the violence."

"Narrator Linda Emond's deliberate pacing and the building tension of her delivery create a compelling listen. The latest installment of the Temperance Brennan series finds the forensic anthropologist in Charlotte, North Carolina, with her volatile niece, Ruthie, when a string of small-animal mutilations escalates to the murder of a woman. Tempe partners with semiretired homicide detective Erskine “Skinny” Slidell to find out who’s behind the violence. As they get closer to the truth, people in Tempe’s life begin to go missing, and she and Skinny must confront questions about the nature of evil. Emond does an excellent job of balancing the scientific aspects of Temperance Brennan’s work and the horror of the violence."

Losing the magic?

I'm with the other reviewers... This installment just felt off. I'd rather have a longer wait between books than get mediocrity on a reliable schedule. I know the author "needs" Tempe to make questionable choices to an extent in order to allow for the danger/escape scenarios, but in this book she just seemed to lack any common sense whatsoever, or possibly even a natural survival instinct. I struggle to accept a brilliant forensic anthropologist who has been helping solving murders (who's with a detective) for decades making some of the blasé decisions she did in this book.

While some books in this series have been better than others, I've truly enjoyed them all, until now. Fingers crossed that the next book is back up to what we readers have come to expect of Reichs.

Reichs doesn’t disappoint…

Nor, does she have any new formula for adventures with Tempe. But I enjoyed it and the narrator is spot on!!

What can I say?

I keep expecting that ‘the next book’ will have to disappoint in some way, but Kathy Reichs continues to prove to me that she can do no wrong.

Depth and educational material on mental health

These books are never disappointing and I always look forward to learning things, as well as being entertained and trying to figure out the plat ahead of time

Familiar characters but without further nuance/growth of relationships.

Not realistic enough. Rushed and condensed especially with the ending. Would have liked to see more development of close relationships- actually too many characters. The suspect just popped out of nowhere!